60 Minutes saga: champagne, peanuts and business class end ordeal

Reporter Tara Brown and her ­60 Minutes crew were arriving back home last night, putting behind them a harrowing two-weeks.

Tara Brown, rear, and Sally Faulkner leaving Baabda women’s prison in Beirut on Wednesday.

Reporter Tara Brown and her ­60 Minutes crew were arriving back on home soil last night, putting behind them a harrowing two weeks in prison cells.

Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment took the first flight out of Beirut — Emirates business class — and were due to touch down in Sydney at 10pm.

Earlier, they had celebrated freedom with champagne and a round of Beirut Beer.

Sinking into couches in the comfortable Cedar lounge at ­Beirut airport, they had their choice of food and drink. They chose a plate of falafels and Lebanese bread and tins of the local pilsner and embraced for a group photo with “relieved” Nine news director Darren Wick.

“We’re happy to have our first beer; how about that,” was producer Rice’s only comment about the dramatic fortnight that has put careers on the line.

The crew had gone straight to Beirut airport after an investi­gative judge dropped charges against them over their botched child ­recovery mission.

Their freedom came in the back of a white van, which spirited them away from the courts to the nearby women’s prison to collect Brown.

After a brief wait, a smiling but silent Brown emerged and joined her colleagues in the back of the van.

The Nine Network’s cameras were rolling as the vehicle did a circuit through Beirut streets, ­followed by a convoy of media crews in cars and on motorbikes.

Horns blared in the heavy traffic as they took the scenic route, probably to buy time, before making their way to the airport.

They drove straight through a VIP-only entrance with the help of Australian embassy officials, ending the pursuit.

Inside the airport, they regrouped with Wick, who could ­finally see an end in sight for the team. “Relief’’ was how he described the feeling of securing their release.

All were under instruction from Nine not to talk about their ordeal.

“We’ve still got to do a debrief with these guys as well. They want to have their first conversation with their family,” Wick said.

Brown, wearing a striped blue and white top, black jeans and flat shoes, looked drawn, with dark circles under her eyes.

“Please appreciate we can’t talk. This is serious and we can’t talk about it,” she said.

Rice, wearing a collared light blue business shirt with his sleeves rolled up, added: “We’re all journos but unfortunately we’re just not in a position to say anything right now.”

It was left to bearded cameraman Ben Williamson, the youngest in the crew, to open a window to their feelings, acknowledging all were looking forward to seeing their worried families.

“We are all happy to be out,” he said.

The bedraggled bunch was quite the sight as it walked ­beneath the bright airport lights.

The first leg of the return journey was aboard a Boeing 777-200 before a quick changeover in Dubai to an A380 for the 13-hour final leg home.

Warm towels, cold champagne, fresh peanuts and the best seats money can buy greeted them on board, a far cry from a cramped jail cell.